Soza, Okotcha, Freeman create highlight material

UTSA’s offense seemed to be at its best last weekend when it was forced to freelance.

At times it seemed as if the Roadrunners were playing in someone’s backyard rather than playing Division I football on the floor of the Alamodome.

Responding to the blitzing McNeese State Cowboys, the Roadrunners executed two of the most entertaining pass completions of the season.

The first came in the second quarter when quarterback Eric Soza, facing pressure, lofted a sweet touch pass into a crease in the McNeese secondary.

Running back Evans Okotcha snared it on his fingertips for a 23-yard TD.

The second came in the third quarter.

With McNeese pass rushers in hot pursuit, Soza spun out of the pocket and fired a ball to the sideline for receiver Brandon Freeman, who came down tip-toeing the sidelines for a 23-yard gain.

A few plays later, Soza scored on a four-yard run, flipping over a defender at the goal line.

During the course of the day as UTSA beat McNeese 31-24, Soza passed for 262 yards and two TDs. He was not intercepted.

“(Eric) graded out really well,” UTSA offensive coordinator Kevin Brown said. “It’s the best he’s done all year. I mean, he made plays.

“You draw up a lot of things and you think things will work and then sometimes those guys do things you can’t coach. I think you saw that.”

Talking about the throw to Freeman, Brown chuckled.

“It proves a point,” he said. “That play was about as bad as it could have been. They ran a blitz off the edge. Eric had to make him miss. He throws it up for grabs and Freeman catches it on the sidelines.”

Both Soza and Freeman have suffered injuries this year and have returned to help the team.

Soza, out for a couple of games with a hip fracture, has returned to spark the offense in the last two games. In eight starts, he has completed 59.3 percent of his passes for 17 touchdowns.

He’s been intercepted only once, in the first game of the year.

Freeman missed four games in the middle of the year with a shoulder injury. Last year’s TD receptions leader with four, he hasn’t scored yet this season, but he has caught seven passes for 140 yards.

Okotcha has been a versatile, steady force all season.

He now has eight TDs rushing and three receiving for 11 total. Against McNeese, Okotcha notched his second score of the game in the third quarter on a 9-yard run.

“He’s very explosive,” Brown said. “He’s one of the most explosive players on our team. When you get the ball to him, a lot of time, good things happen.”